


kiss me better

by laurentknows



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: High School AU, M/M, One Shot, Only slightly inspired by the kissing booth on netflix, The Kissing Booth AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25597012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurentknows/pseuds/laurentknows
Summary: Laurent decided the only way to kiss his crush is line up at the kissing booth.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 150





	kiss me better

**Author's Note:**

> For Elise, my enabler. I’ve finally finished one (1) fic out of the 356782136572 I threw at you? Are you proud??

It was noisy and crowded when Laurent arrived at the school grounds, his schoolmates dressed down like he was for the school festival and mingling with each other, lining up at the different booths and games each club had prepared for this day.

He didn’t join a club this year, deciding to focus on his AP classes, his college applications and essays instead, and so he was free to roam around and watch his fellow students make a fool of themselves in those stupid games.

Pushing one hand inside his dark jeans’ left front pocket, he made sure he was exuding a “do not approach” vibe and his resting bitch face was on so that no one would bother him. It wasn’t hard to do because the whole student body was aware Laurent Vere didn’t make friends. To these teenagers, he was intimidating. He knew how he looked like, but that didn’t give them a free pass to talk to him, and the girls often had moue of disgust plastered on their made up faces, envious of his smooth, unblemished skin and shoulder length, golden locks. He really couldn’t care less.

Laurent had one goal and one goal only in coming to the school on what was supposed to be a free Friday: the kissing booth.

The football team and cheering squad were handling the kissing booth, and when Laurent turned to the corner where their spot was installed, he was not surprised at the long queue in front of the booth. Five dollars for a breath mint and a kiss with your chosen player or cheerleader. It’s for charity. But the people lining up were surely not there because they had big hearts and spare money to give out to the children’s hospital. Definitely not.

The Lion’s Quarterback, Campus King, and newly-single Damianos de Akielos was one of the kissers and boys and girls were clamoring for a chance to liplock with the Golden Boy of Marlas High.

Laurent couldn’t actually fault all these kids for trying out their luck because it was a once in a lifetime experience since, like him, Damen was a senior, and this was his last school fest. He would be a hypocrite if he said he wouldn’t be lining up in the kissing booth in front of Damen’s name card. This was the only person Laurent had an eye on ever and that didn’t change throughout the years.

After all, this was his one and only chance of finally kissing his crush of four years, and then he’d go away to a different state and never see him again.

That should have made him sad, but Laurent was just being realistic.

He was aiming for an Undergraduate program in MIT and while he saw Damen taking up AP classes and was in a few with Laurent, he didn’t think he’d apply to the same university. Does MIT even have a sports team? Laurent had to look that up.

He knew he was distracting himself with the current event, his thought process going into one of those brain cul-de-sacs Auguste always said Laurent had whenever he didn’t like or was hesitant about a thing he was about to do. Taking a deep breath and eyes on his target, he lined up behind the last person on the queue, some sophomore guy with ginger hair. The students looked at him in curiosity but gave him a wide berth, making sure they were a few feet away from Laurent. Good.

Laurent watched as another roar of screams and whistles from the audience in front were heard, another blonde girl french kissing Damen had her arms wrapped around the quarterback’s neck, Damen’s hand on her cheek and giving the girl’s lips a lick before pulling away. The black blindfold highlighted his red lips and white teeth, a bright smile in place for the girl despite not seeing her. Damen’s hair was a messy bunch of dark brown curls, and he scratched his head after the kiss, messing his hair further. Laurent’s fingers twitched. He wanted to touch his hair so bad.

  
His eyes were fixed on Damen now, as another student climbed up the stage excitedly, guided by another player - Nikandros, Laurent thought - so that she would be in front of the little table that was standing between her and the kisser. Opposite Damen was the cheerleader Kashel, who was currently entertaining a tall guy named Berenger who was in the debate club with Laurent last year. He seemed reluctant to be doing what he was doing and Laurent decided it was more fun to watch Damen instead.

There were about twelve more people before it was Laurent’s turn, and watching them make a mess in front of an unseeing Damen was getting old, so he whipped out his phone and pulled up Kindle to pass the time.

When it was finally his turn he paid and gotten himself a ticket and two pieces of Altoids, popping them quickly in his mouth. Not to say he needed them because his breath was just fine. He made sure to brush his teeth thoroughly, twice, gurgle Listerine and even flossed before leaving the house earlier. But one couldn’t be so sure.

Nikandros guided him up the platform after collecting his ticket, throwing in a curious look that he ignored. Nikandros wasn’t the only one. There was a sudden hush from the students as Laurent stood in front of Damen, probably as curious and as surprised as Damen’s friend, because when was the last time Laurent had shown interest in anyone? The answer was never. They could conclude that Laurent was here for charity. That’s the only possible answer.

Only Laurent knew the real reason.

Damen had caught his attention in freshmen year when Damen entered the science lab ten minutes after the first bell. His hair was wet and his tshirt was slightly damped. Laurent, and the rest of the class including the teacher looked up as he stumbled inside the classroom, wearing a sheepish grin.

“Nice of you to join us, Mr. de Akielos,” Makedon said, glaring at the boy. Laurent remembered Damen to be a gangly freshman like the rest of them, like he didn’t know how to use his long limbs yet. The messy curls were already there, as well as the dimple on his left cheek that caught Laurent’s eye. Cute.

“Sorry, sir. Practice ran late.” Damen, whose name Laurent didn’t know yet at that time, stood by the doorway, scuffing his Converse on the floor and scratching his head. His dark skin glistened under the sunlight streaming from the window. Laurent thought he was beautiful and he tried his best to turn away. He couldn’t, so he chewed on his pen instead and observed, making sure he wasn’t showing any emotions on his face.

“What are you waiting for? Take a seat!” The teacher said, and Laurent froze. His desk was the only one with another free seat, near the back door, because even in freshmen year, no one wanted to be friends with Laurent the Bitch from middle school.

Laurent’s eyes were looking forward now, gripping his pen. There was the scent of baby powder as the chair beside his moved, and then a sigh was heard. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Damen grabbed a book from his backpack and settled down. Laurent chanced a quick glance at the boy, and almost flinched at the way his heart jumped all of a sudden. Jesus, he looked even better up close. The boy looked at him, offering a blinding grin. “Hi,” he said. “Sorry about that.”

The smell of baby powder got stronger when Damen leaned a tad closer to whisper the words to Laurent.

Laurent shook his head, feeling dazed. “S’okay.”

And that’s that. The next day, Laurent made sure to sit in front, beside Berenger. Vannes didn’t protest when she saw Laurent taking her seat from her. Laurent decided he wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class if he sat next to Damen for the rest of the school year, and he didn’t want that. Boys were not worth a flunking grade, and Laurent expected nothing less than As for his grades. He remembered Damen smiling at him several times as they passed each other in the halls, but that’s about it.

By sophomore year, Damen’s popularity heightened when he filled out and looked even more gorgeous, added by the fact that he started seeing Jokaste, one of the cheerleaders and an absolute Miss Popular. High School kids dug that kind of thing, the golden couple.

That didn’t stop Laurent from crushing on him though. He couldn’t help himself when Damen was so kind and sweet to his fellow students, and he could hold his own in AP classes which he shared with Laurent. They only ever had that one interaction, but Damen always smiled at him when they saw each other around school. He was very smart despite his jock image, and Laurent was apparently into brains and muscles in one package. Didn’t matter though, it wasn’t like Damen was interested, plus he dated Jokaste up until the end of junior year when they broke up due to some secret reason. Damen remained single in fourth year, but that didn’t change anything for Laurent. He wasn’t even sure if Damen’s into boys too. It didn’t matter, really.

He could always admire Damen from afar.

Well, now he wasn’t as far from Damen as usual.

Now he was standing right in front of him and Laurent had his hands in fists as he did his best to emanate a picture of unaffected calmness. There was the sweet and fresh scent of baby powder again, and Laurent idly wondered how Damen was able to maintained that even after kissing probably a hundred kids already.

A small smile was playing around Damen’s lips, and Laurent’s own parted slightly as his brain took in the image in front of him. After all these years, Damen was still the most beautiful person Laurent had ever seen, blindfold included.

“Hello,” said Damen in a deep baritone that melted Laurent’s insides. Butterflies swarmed his stomach and he felt his breath hitched at the little word.

“Hi,” Laurent whispered, not sure what to do.

“There’s a line waiting,” Nikandros said from behind, and Laurent almost glared at him, but he couldn’t look away from Damen.

“You can just, you know, kiss me or whatever,” Damen encouraged. Laurent knew he needed to stand on his tip-toes to be able to reach Damen, who was more than a foot taller than he was. But Damen, as if knowing their size difference, leaned down and offered his face - granted, there’s only a handful of people who shared the same height as his, so it was easy to guess the person in front of him was shorter - his smile staying in place.

“Okay, uhm.” Laurent hated how flustered he was, but could anyone actually blamed him if they knew he was just half as in love with Damen as the rest of the school was?

Here went nothing, Laurent thought as he raised his face, eyes closed, and pressed his lips on Damen’s soft ones. There was no sparks, no fireworks the way his novels always described. It was quiet, it was gentle, it was sweet. Laurent kissed Damen for a moment, his lips closed. It was nothing more than a smack, and it was all it would ever be. He didn’t want to take advantage of Damen. Damen probably didn’t even want this. The warmth that spread all over his body when he kissed Damen was gone when he pulled away, clenching his jaw tight. He needed to be content with that. That was the best he was going to get.

He didn’t wait any longer and turned his back, walking off casually from the booth. He heard Damen’s faint “what, that’s it?” as he walked away. Damen must have been surprised that Laurent didn’t attack him the way the others did. He would never.  
His lips were tingling from that short kiss and he could feel Damen’s warm lips on his even when he was in his bed and ready to sleep the day away. It was how he imagined it and more. That one quick kiss made him feel so alive and he wondered, as sleep slowly took him, how it’d feel to actually kiss Damen, for Damen to want to kiss him, for Damen to want to choose Laurent and kiss him.  
In his dreams, it was everything.

—

The week after the school festival, Laurent was in the lab for some last minute experiments he needed to complete a paper. The last bell already rung thirty minutes ago, and he was alone in the room, Makedon telling him to go to his office when Laurent was done so he could lock up.

He just removed his goggles and scrubbed a hand on his face when he was startled by a knock on the door. Damen was standing by the doorway, a hesitant smile on his face as he waved at Laurent, his Converse scuffing the floor. Laurent figured this was a nervous gesture.

“Hi,” said Damen.

Laurent stopped the urge to look around the room to make sure Damen was actually talking to him instead of another student even though he knew it was empty aside from him. “Hi?”

Damen’s smile widened and the dimple instantly weakened Laurent’s heart.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Asked Damen, still by the door.

Laurent wanted to say, _you can talk to me forever_ , but his mouth said, “don’t you have football practice?”

Honestly.

Damen shook his head. “Season’s over so coach let us off today.” And then he tilted his head, like an adorable golden retriever, “you know my schedule?”

Laurent would be damned. “Everybody knows your schedule.”

“Oh,” said Damen, deflating a little, before, in a true Damianos de Akielos fashion, straightening himself and smiling again. “I just wanted to talk to you real quick?”

“Talk,” Laurent said, his voice cool, as he looked down at his notes. Damen took that as an invitation to come into the room, sitting opposite Laurent.

He had his big hand on his hair again, scratching the back of his head. Laurent wished he’d stop doing that because his biceps popped out when he did, and Laurent could only take so much. This was most like another nervous gesture.

Damen said, “so, I know you think this is weird, me talking to you, since we never really talked to each other before but uh, I just wanted to say, last Friday - ”

God, Damen must have not like Laurent lining up and kissing him at the booth he felt the needed to ask for Laurent’ apology. This was just great.

“Look, Damen. I’m sorry about that. It was for charity.” Maybe. Yeah, Laurent might as well be a charity. Auguste would hate him for the inner pity party but really, the boy he liked was asking for his apology for kissing him. Laurent was allowed to have a pity party.

But Damen was looking at him like Laurent kicked his puppy or something and Laurent was confused.

“For charity?” Damen asked quietly.

Laurent nodded, unsure why Damen was looking at him with sad eyes. He felt the need to make him smile, because sad didn’t belong on this human sunshine’s face.

“Oh, okay,” Damen stood. “I really thought...Sorry, that was probably very arrogant of me. Sorry, I’m going to go.” He threw another smile at Laurent, this time it didn’t reach his eyes and his dimple was gone.

Damen was almost out the door when Laurent stood, hands fisting the sleeves of his lab coat tight. “Damen?”

Damen turned, expression looking...hopeful? “Yeah?”

Laurent swallowed thickly, inhaling before saying, “what - what did you think?”

The quarterback blinked a couple of times, “what?”

“What did you think I was there for?”

Laurent waited, and then Damen was slowly walking toward him again, hand back at it with the head scratching.

“I thought, maybe, you might also like me?”

Laurent flushed, he really wished he could control this stupid trait of his but no. His face was hot when he said, “every single person in this school likes you, Damianos.”

Damen was now standing in front of him, with only a few feet apart, his hand flat on the desk where Laurent’s books were scattered.

“Maybe,” he said, and his smooth, deep voice did things for Laurent. Add the fact that his whiskey-colored eyes were staring intently at Laurent’s,

“But I only like one person in this school.”

“Oh,” Laurent said, his chest clenching. “Right, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to - are you having problems with them because of the booth? Should I talk to them - ”

“Laurent,” Damen interrupted, stepping forward so their chests were almost touching and Laurent was looking up at him. The baby powder smell was back and infiltrating all of Laurent’s senses. How could this guy smell like a fucking baby?

“It’s not because of that.”

“Then what?” Laurent asked, impatient. He already made a fool of himself in front of Damen for far too long.

Damen smiled, and it was a gentle smile that made Laurent feel faint. “I wanted to talk to you because I wanted to tell you that I like you.”

There was a ringing in his ear for a full second before his heart stopped, and then it was back to life, beating fast like he just ran a full marathon. His throat closed and his mouth dried, he stared at Damen for a long minute before scowling. “What?”

Damen looked down for a second, and was he blushing? Laurent was stupefied at the situation he was currently in he couldn’t appreciate how adorable big, beefy man Damen looked flushed and shy.

“I like you, Laurent. I have since we were freshmen,” Damen said, looking at him under his lashes, which, how was that possible when Damen was taller than him?

Wait, Damen liked him?

“What?” Laurent said, an intellectual with only one English word currently available in his vocabulary.

“When I sat beside you in Physics when we were freshmen, I thought I was the luckiest person because I got to sit with Laurent Vere. I wanted to be friends with you since middle school but you just didn’t seem like the type to befriend losers like me. And when you sat in front the next day, far away from me, I thought you hated me sitting beside you. I know it’s stupid and it’s peak high school kid behavior and I should have just talked to you but I was scared you’d reject me and then sophomore year happened and everything changed but I was still hoping we could be friends and I know it’s too late now and I don’t want to be just friends, Laurent. I’m sorry I sound so stupid.” The last line was delivered in a soft tone that gutted Laurent, like Damen sun was replaced with an overcast sky and Laurent just wanted to hug him. He didn’t though, he still had that much self control.

“No, you don’t. Damen, I had no idea you felt that way. If I knew I would - ” Laurent promptly choked and bit his lower lip.

“You would what?”

This was it. If Laurent understood Damen correctly, then that meant they were on the same page. If not, Laurent could just suck it up and put this moment in the shame box in the back of his mind.

“I would have told you I feel the same.”

The sunshine was back, and this time it was too bright and Laurent almost looked away. Instead he looked at Damen fully and smiled, because Damen’s smile was addicting and contagious.

“You really do?” Damen said, and apparently it was possible for his smile to get wider when Laurent nodded at him.

“I really do.”

“Do you maybe want to get out of here?” Damen asked, fiddling with a page of one of Laurent’s books. “We can get a Subway or something?”

“Like a date?” Laurent said, and then cursed, because way to go, self.

The sound of Damen’s booming laughter made Laurent blushed, and like with his smile, Laurent would probably sacrifice anything just to hear him laugh again like that. Damen was happy personified.

“Like a date,” he grinned, taking Laurent’s hand and kissing his knuckles before they both blushed and he dropped it quickly. They busied themselves gathering Laurent’s stuff and putting them in his bag before they leave the room.

In the hallway on the way to Makedon’s office to tell him he was done for the day, the events of the afternoon suddenly hit Laurent hard and he wanted to internally scream because damn, was he really going on a date with his high school crush? And was his high school crush actually had a secret crush on him? Laurent looked up at Damen who was walking beside him with a grin as they held hands and, inevitably, flushed.

Auguste would have a field day once he knew.


End file.
